


Facing the Odds

by Teila



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Sick Character, discussion about death, highschool
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:21:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27294115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teila/pseuds/Teila
Summary: Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby are in high school now. Though school had its ups and downs life is going pretty good. However, Uncle Donald has some news that will shake their world.
Relationships: Daisy Duck/Donald Duck, Della Duck & Donald Duck, Dewey Duck & Donald Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck, Donald Duck & Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck & Webby Vanderquack
Comments: 45
Kudos: 77





	1. 9%

“Uncle Donald, there is only about a 9% chance that I will ever actually look through any of the photo albums you make so can you please stop taking pictures of us each time we start a new grade.” 

“Louie, you were the one who told me I don’t quit even when it’s not logical, what makes you think I’m going to give up now?” 

Groaning Louie pulled the strings on his hoodie and fully hid his face. It’s not that Louie disliked pictures, well he kinda did, but it was more that they were standing in front of their high school with dozens of kids watching. Most years they would quickly take the photo and be done with it. But this year Launchpad was dropping them off because Donald’s car was being fixed, and so they crashed into the front gate. Meaning there was now a huge crowd of students watching. This was not how 16-year-old Louie wanted to start his junior year. 

Dewey elbowed him smiling, not minding one bit of having his picture taken, and said, “Come on dude, you know he isn’t going to stop till he gets a good one. Plus this Huey’s last one.” 

When Huey was offered to skip a grade he originally wasn’t going to do it. He preferred being in the same grade as his siblings. However, they had finally convinced Webby to join public school and she was placed a year ahead of the boys in school thanks to Beakley’s advanced homeschooling system. After having a meeting about it the kids decided the best idea would be to have Huey skip a year and be in the same grade as webby. It wasn’t all that weird the first few years because they would all hang out at lunch and breaks. Growing up the triplets weren’t normally in the same homeroom anyways because no teacher could put up with all three of them at once. So it felt relatively normal. But this year felt different because both Huey and Webby would be graduating while Dewey and Louie still had another year. Dewey didn’t mind because he loved the theater program and joined the tv broadcasting club that did the morning announcements. He even joined a sports team, though it's soccer and not basketball like he thought would as a child.

Louie on the other hand was annoyed that he had to put up with another year of high school, but every time he said something about it Huey would go on about ways that if he put the work in he could graduate early. Louie loved Huey, however, he didn’t think Huey truly understood Louie’s desire to avoid work rather than seek it out. Louie’s whole goal in high school was to see how long he could procrastinate without him having to do makeup work. So far his record was handing something in three weeks late and receiving an 85%. Not bad but he knew he could go longer.

Huey may have been trying not to think about the fact that he was graduating a year earlier than his brothers. And his way to not think about it was to obsess over it for the whole summer. He had about 25 plans for what he would do once he graduated. He has ranked all the universities that he would want to go to and has several application essays ready. His back up plans had back up plans. Unsurprisingly this did little to ease the feeling of apprehension growing in his chest about moving on to the next phase of life without his brothers. Though having Webby graduate with him did help. 

Webby’s experience with school was a roller coaster. Suddenly her worldview shifted from knowing mostly adults and some children to suddenly attending an intitule with hundreds of people her age. She struggled at first to adapt, but luckily the boys were there to make it easier. Once she got used to school there was no stopping her. She joined the fencing, year booking, and the social justice clubs. It may have also helped that Lena and Violet also attended the same school, with one of their dads being the principal. 

Overall this year was forming to be an interesting one for the teen ducks. 

“Okay boys, the camera is all ready, now smile.” 

The four teens posed and the picture was taken. 

Della laughed watching Donald coerce the kids to look somewhat presentable for the pictures. Maybe Louie wasn’t thankful for such a fully documented childhood but Della sure was. Some of her favorite nights back on earth was where she got to flip through the pages of photo albums and hear Donald’s stories about the kids. She may not agree with her brother on a lot of things, but she did agree about how awesome all the kids were. Once she finished helping Launchpad make sure the car was okay she came over and gave the kids one last goodbye. Another great thing about Donald is that he could be the embarrassing parent and she got to be the cool mom. After one last farewell, the kids started heading to class and the adults returned to the limo. 

The exciting atmosphere of dropping the kids off at school ended when Launchpad asked for which hospital he was supposed to be heading to. Della hadn’t forgotten about Donald’s appointment but she definitely didn’t like getting reminded about it. It started a few weeks ago when Donald complaining about back pain got more persistent. At first, she thought it was just the pains you get from being a single parent for so long. But she notices he was getting more and more tired. Uncle Scrooge was getting worried too. In fact, he was the one who suggested Donald go to the doctors, he even offered to pay. Maybe Donald’s habits of fussing over people was wearing off on Scrooge. Donald stubbornly refused to go. Until one day where Della had the wonderful idea of getting daisy on board with the get Donald to get a checkup. She had this big old plan. And she was about to call and tell her the details when a large crash came from the kitchen. A familiar scene greeted Della as she walked into a destroyed kitchen with Donald standing in the middle of it. However, instead of a face of anger and annoyance he usually had in these situations, he was double over and clenching at his stomach. 

Donald was the one who called and set up an appointment. 

They decided to go when the kids were at school. They didn’t want to worry them. Donald insisted that the kids had enough to worry about with Huey and Webby starting their senior year, and Della couldn’t help but agree. All the kids seemed a little anxious about the year, but Ducks don’t back down and they took on this adventure with the same courage they take on fighting monsters of Greek mythology. Which for Louie means reluctantly, but the rest of the kids all found their own positive twist on it and pressed forward even with having their own fears about the situation. 

Della remembers what school was like. She loved socializing with her friends. She wasn’t the most popular but she had a few good friends and of course, there was also Donald. Who at this point was a little more self-conscious about his voice but still hadn’t given up on his dream of becoming a singer. Della fully supported him, though to be truthful sometimes it was more because it annoyed Uncle Scrooge. 

Uncle Scrooge sure has changed since they were kids. Sure he was still stingy with money and always sought out adventure, but he shows his emotions more now. It may not seem like it to most people, but he does show a lot about how much he cares for his family. He makes sure they all have what they need and that they know he loves them. He is a lot more protective of them, being afraid to lose anyone. Della hates the guilt of knowing why he is that way. 

Uncle scrooge wanted to come to the doctor appointment but Donald refused. He didn’t even let Della come into the room with him, so she was out in the waiting room. This wasn’t his first appointment either. Apparently, he got some testing done and he needed to come back to get the results. Della hated waiting and hated waiting rooms. There were always so boring. The only things they had for entertainment were magazines and the news channel. Look around she noticed there was a nice family where the moms were playing with their young child who had a cast. It looked like maybe they were here to finally get it removed. When they noticed he watching she smiled and kindly waved. And then a loud squawk interrupted the peaceful moment and she heard her brother get mad. She stood planning to rush in, but Donald was out in a second, his face was red with anger. Donald was speaking so quickly that she couldn’t understand was he was saying. She looked at the frazzled doctor who chased after Donald. Donald was left outside before the doctor caught him, but when they saw Della they sighed and walked over. 

“Are you Della duck?” 

“Yes, I am. What up Doc? Why did my brother blow a fuse, I haven’t seen him this angry since I pranked him by putting mayo in his slippers.”

“Well, it’s to be expected to have intense emotions.” The Doctor said looking towards the doors, they then turned towards Della and continues, “I got permission from Mr. Duck to discuss his condition with you, could you please follow me. I have already told him all of this but I would feel better telling someone else just to make sure he follows my instruction.”

Della nodded and followed the doctor to his office. After a few minutes Della walked out clutching a small clump of paper, her eyes looked distant. She felt the same numbness that she did on the moon. The numbness where you keep moving because you need to but you push the thoughts out because you know if you take the time to process you would stop doing anything. The doctor told Della that they would have someone call and set up another appointment. Della thanked them and walked out to the parking lot. She saw the limo with Launchpad smiling and waving her over. Launchpad smile didn’t disappear when he saw her but his eyes did soften. 

“Donald is in the back already, I am not sure what’s up, but I called Uncle McD and he said he would meet you back at the house.”

Della nodded slowly, opened the back door, and crawled in. Donald was no longer in a state of rage. Instead, he was staring down at his phone looking at the picture he took that morning. Without a word Della curled up next to her twin and they drove back to the mansion. 

The cafeteria of high schools are always loud, and Duckburg High was no exception. So the kids avoided it. Instead, they went out to the small forest beside their school and chilled there until it was time to return. It wasn’t always all of them that could make it out, but because it was the first day of school nobody had any clubs and so they all gathered together to eat lunch. Lena even dropped by, decided to take her break from work at the same time as their lunch. Though, her work breaks were only a half-hour instead of the full hour that the high school gave. So by the time she arrived the five duck were all deep in conversation. Violet and Dewey looked to be having some sort of debate. Louie and Huey were fussing over something, and Webby seemed to be taking notes. Wanting to scare them Lena sneaked over and leaned over the circle of friends and asked “What’s the mystery today, scrooge make a new enemy, or have one of you accidentally unleashed a curse upon duckburger?” 

Lena laughed as she got a chorus of squawks and greetings from the groups. Violet, being the best little sister one could ask for but also having to put up with Lena’s spooks the most, recovered first. 

“Well, these four all got a text message from Donald,” she stated pointing to a green cell phone in the center of the circle, “saying ‘family meeting tonight i have something i need to tell you” We are simply trying to figure out what the meeting could be about.” 

“Yeah, we are trying to figure out a reasonable reason for why Uncle Donald would a meeting, not a made-up stupid false reason why he would hold a meeting,” Dewey said pointedly at Violet. 

“Facing an ancient mythical force as a part of a secret magical trio with the aid of a Greek goddess is not false nor stupid, it could easily happen with your family and your uncle is a great adventurer. You can’t prove that he hasn’t.” 

“Just because Uncle Donald was an adventure and we didn’t know about it doesn’t mean he has magic and we don’t know about it. I feel like that would be something we would have found out by now, especially since Mom came back, she is about as good as keeping a secret as Launchpad is.” 

“And how much about Launchpad's life do you actually know?” 

“As his best friend I kn-“ Interrupting Dewey, Lena sat down in between the two and starts eating some of his sandwich that he hadn’t finished. 

“So what are the other running theories here?” 

Picking up her notebook Webby started listing off theories, pointing at the person to who the theory belonged to. “Louie thinks Uncle Donald finally gave up on music and is now trying to become an actor. Dewey thinks he will announce who his favorite child is. Huey thinks it will a story about safety in high school. You have already heard Violet's theory, And my theory is that he is going to announce he has an alter ego that as a superhero.” 

“Boo, if anyone is going to be the superhero of the family it’s going to be” Dewey pouts and folds his arms. 

Lena nods a few times and then says, “All good theories but want to hear mine.” Webby enthusiastically nods, Violet give a single node. Louie shrugs, Huey said yes, and Dewey mutters something about it better not be about his parental figure having a secret life he doesn’t know about. Lena leans in and makes a motion for the others to follow. They do and when they all lean in she whispers “I think he is going to announce that he and Daisy are engaged.” 

One would think Lena put a revealed a huge spider by the way everyone in the group jumped back. Huey was even on his feet. 

“There is no way that Uncle Donald would propose without telling us or having me help plan the proposal date!” Huey flailed his arms around. “No, no, no. Impossible.” 

Louie just had an indescribable look on his face and simply said “well it's logical, but, ugh… I don’t want to think about it.” 

Webby was practically squealing and saying “This is my new favorite theory! Oh, do you think they would let me be the maid of honor!” 

“What! No way, that would be Mom, and we don’t know if they are engaged. While it is more likely than him having a secret identity, it is still very unlikely. Come on, unfortunate Huey’s right about this again, he totally would have come to us to help him plan any proposal,” said Dewey, who looks half excited and half disturbed at the idea of Donald getting married. 

Violet nodded, “I do have to side with them Lena, it doesn’t feel very Donald like to not keep them informed on his love life, they were the ones who help him and Daisy become official.”

Lena leaned back and smirked. “I never said Donald would be the one who proposed, we all know Daisy is a woman who isn’t afraid to go after what she wants. She easily could be the one to propose. It would explain why he called a random family meeting”

A moment of silence passed before the conversation started up again. They were all discussing the possibility of Donald getting married. It was a whirl of emotions and topics. Everything from wedding colors to how weird it would be to have Donald be married. 

But before the conversation could progress any further Louie spoke up, “Well Lena's idea sure is interesting, to say the least, it doesn’t explain everything. Uncle Donald isn’t the type to send texts, but when he does he always makes sure it's properly punctuated. This text has no punctuation so that means someone else sent it on his phone. We can cross out Uncle Scrooge because he can’t text at all, and Beakley because she would do everything with proper grammar. So that means it was either Launchpad or Mom. I don’t think its Launchpad because he normally sends a gif with all his texts, so it could be Mom. But either way, if someone else sent the text then that means it’s something Uncle Donald doesn’t want to tell us and if he got engaged he definitely would be the one texting.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. 

Dewey elbowed Louie, “Why we didn’t include you in all our detective stuff I will never know.”

“Simple, I am a schemer and not a sleuth-er.”

“Okay,” Webby said looking at her paper again and scratching her head, “That means most of these theories would be false, but I guess it could be the secret identities because he would be reluctant to share that.”

“UGH, no, I am not dealing with another round of explaining why Uncle Donald, someone who was a single parent for ten years, wouldn’t have the time to have a secret identity.” Dewey grabbed the phone out of the middle and shut it off. “We will find out what he has to say at the family meeting, beside we have more important things to discuss. Even though it's our first day of school I need to start planning for which part of the school play I will audition for.”

The kids all laughed and moved on with the conversation talking about schools and hopes for the year. Eventually, the bell rang and the kids when back to class and Lena went back to work. She made the kids promise to text her and violet what the family meeting was about before leaving. Though she didn’t receive any message from them that night. Though She would receive a phone call that night, and she and her sister would go to comfort one of their best friends. 

Scrooge was used to being the one who held family meetings. He was used to having a speech prepared for the next adventure they would embark on and when they would leave. He enjoyed those types of meetings. However, he was unsure of how to prepare for this family meeting. He had come home from the bin the moment Launchpad called saying something was up with Donald after the doctor’s visit. And he was not prepared for the news he received from his nephew and niece. Apparently, Launchpad also didn’t know the details because the moment he found out he scooped Donald up in a big hug and it took nearly 15 minutes before he let go. 

Scrooge was probably still in shock about finding out himself but he had to be strong for the young ones. Donald had insisted on telling the news to the kids as soon as possible, not wanting to keep anything a secret. Beakley told Donald it would be fine to take some time to himself before telling them, but he refused and said secrets only caused problems in this family. Donald isn’t wrong, but Scrooge kinda wished he had more time to process his own emotions before trying to help his great-nephews and niece process theirs. They were all in the living room. The kids spread out. Scrooge and Della sat themselves in between the kids just to try and provide support. The kids were all really confused when Launchpad picked them up without Donald or Della there. And while Launchpad didn’t say anything about the topic of the family meeting on the drive home his body language wasn’t one of comfort for the kids’ curious minds. Donald was standing in front of them holding a very crinkled piece of paper. Scrooge was impressed that the paper was still legible. In fact, there was only one tear in it and it was easily put back together with a piece of scotch tape. Scrooge hated that paper. He wished he never saw it. But he knew that even if the paper didn’t exist the problem wouldn’t go away. 

But he still wished he could stop the kids from seeing it.

Donald tried to say why he called the meeting, but he couldn’t quite get the words out. Words were never his strong suit. And this situation is one that even Quakespeare would have trouble finding the right words to say. So after a minute of opening and closing his beak, Donald sighed and just spit it out. 

“I got some tests done at the doctors, these are the results.” 

The four high schoolers instantly scrabbled around the paper Donald put down. Huey read one phrase from it. 

“The test results were positive for pancreatic cancer, further tests are required to tell its exact phase, but it is suspected to be in the latter stages.” 

“Wait, What?!” Dewey ripped the paper away from Huey and stared and it and then looked up at his Uncle. “You can’t have cancer you’re not even sick, are you?”

Donald placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder, “I didn’t think I was either, but I have been having back and stomach pains, and been more tired than usual, which are all symptoms of it.”

“No, that’s not right, you have always had aches and pains, that just because of stress isn’t it?” Dewey was staring at his Uncle with eyes pleading that he would tell him this was all some sort of prank. 

And Donald wished he could tell him that it was. Instead, Donald replied saying, “I thought so too.”

With a few blinks, Dewey slowly started to absorb the information and dove into Donald’s chest. Webby, whose eyes were already wet followed suit. “It’s okay Uncle Donald, we are here for you.” 

Huey picked the paper back up and re-read it. “Uncle Donald, it says these are the test results, when did you get tested.”

Staring at the oldest triplet he said, “I went in at the beginning of last week, they ran the test for multiple diseases.”

“Did you know you were getting tested for cancer?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Huey cried out in frustration. “Why didn’t you tell us you were feeling ill.”

Donald unwrapped his wing from around Dewey and reached out for Huey. Dewey was still clinging to Donald as Donald pulled Huey in to join them and said “I didn’t think they would find anything and neither did the doctor. They said that they were testing for it as a precaution and said it was unlikely based on my family history and lifestyle. Today was the day I got the results. I know it’s frustrating, but we will get through this as a family.” 

Huey nodded and leaned into his family. Donald squeezed around the kids that had already attached themself to him and looked up at the last. The green triplet was staring at his phone, tears already streaming down his face. 

“Louie…” 

At the mention of his name, the kid looked up. 

“9%”

“What?” Donald puzzled at the random number.

Louie stared directly at his Uncle and repeated himself.

“9%” 

“What do you mean by that Louie?” 

Louie who has been quite staring at his phone seeming to try and ignore the situation, turned his device around to show a screen with google pulled up. “The five-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is 9%, and you’re the unluckiest duck in the world. How can you possibly say that we will get through it as a family? We can’t do it as a family if part of our family dies.”

Uncle Donald walked towards Louie, the other kids following. He felt the tears gathering in his own eyes. He and scooped him up and allowing his child’s tears to soak his sailor uniform. He wasn’t planning on giving in to cancer, but his kids gave him an even stronger resolve to survive. As the rest of the family joined the hug Donald said, “The odds have always been against me, but you once told me that I don’t have the common sense to give up, and I am not going to give up now either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading all the way to the end! I have had this fic bouncing around my head for a while now, even back before Della was a major character. I just haven't written it because I am not a great writer. However I decided practice is the only way to improve so here I am writing a fic. I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you have any feedback I would love to hear it. Every comment makes my day.
> 
> Have fun with your fanfic reading and thanks for stopping by!


	2. The Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey and Donald go to the doctors and leave with new things to think about.

It had been almost 2 weeks since the duck family found out that Donald had cancer. In that time, Donald has had an MRI, CT scan, and a biopsy. For the first meeting with the oncologist, Dr. Gadwall came to the mansion because the whole family wanted to be there and the doctor's office was too small. However, that was a special occasion and the ducks had to come into the clinic for the rest of the appointments. The rule was a total of three extra guests in the doctor's office. They could have more in the waiting room but it would be too cramped in the small office with the whole family there. 

Normally they would max out that number but today it was just Dewey and Donald. It was a simple appointment, just a check-up and reviewing details of the treatment plan. Tension and stress has been very high for the last two weeks. Everyone was needing some alone time to process. However, Dewey jumped at the chance to miss a morning of school to accompany Donald to the doctors. Launchpad drove of course, but he decided to wait in the front, not being the best to sit and listen to instructions. Della was also planning on coming this time, but Donald told her to take a break and visit Penumbra.

Della has been taking full responsibility for making sure her brother got the best treatment ever since he was diagnosed. She was helping set up all the appointments and was at every one of them taking notes and helping make the treatment plan. Donald was both appreciative and annoyed by it. But today he was mostly worried. He knows how constantly being stressed affects the body. He forced her not to come so she could have some time to relax. Plus this appointment wasn’t one with much new information, just a check-up and confirming dates.

When Dewey first met Donald's oncologist he was prepared to dislike him, thinking that the doctor would just be some grouch that only told bad news and wouldn’t be able to save his uncle. Instead, it was a middle-aged man that looked like a daycare worker that told bad news and might be able to save his uncle. Somehow he won over the hearts of the Duck family. Most likely because he promised to try his hardest to give Donald the best chance of survival. Dewey quickly grew fonder of the doctor, when he would answer questions in a way that didn’t require a course in medical terminology to understand. The doctor even encouraged questions, and so Dewey didn't hesitate to ask. 

“I thought he had pancreatic cancer, why are you taking out part of his stomach?” Dewey puzzled Dr. Gadwall.

Pulling out a diagram of the human digestive system and pointing to a small organ sandwiched between the stomach and intestines, Dr. Gadwall explained, “Donalds Cancer is right here at the head of the pancreas, it is very fortunate that the cancer is all localized in one area. However, it is stage three which means that it is spreading to the bloodstreams. The head of the pancreas is very close to the stomach, the small intestine, and the bile duct for the gall bladder. To remove the head of the pancreas we also have to remove the other organs it's close to. We are only removing a small portion of the stomach. Normally, with stage three cancer we wouldn’t be doing a surgery, but the cancer has yet to reach major bloodstreams and we still have a chance surgery successfully removing the whole tumor.”

Dewey took a second to process the information, nodded, and asked, “Why does he have to wait a month to get the surgery? Wouldn’t it be better to do it now?”

Dewey was still frustrated with how long the treatment plan was. Dr. Gadwall said the surgery could be done, so why not do it sooner rather than later? If money was the problem then Uncle Scrooge could pay any doctor double. However, there was a waitlist for the surgeon that Dr. Gadwall recommended. 

“Dewey, while it is normally best to perform the surgery as soon as possible, this is a very complicated procedure and you need the best surgeon to make sure it goes well. We already got Donald scheduled in with Dr. Carrion, and she is the best in the business. Plus, It may actually be for the best that Donald waits. We will use the time to give Donald radiation treatment so the cancer cells can shrink a little before the surgery. That way it will have a higher chance of it being a success. As Donald is now, his tumor is at the size where we debate not doing surgery, but with radiation treatment, it will hopefully shrink enough so we can get it all out.”

Slouching Dewey sighed. “I guess that makes sense.”

Donald made an amused huff sound and patted his boy's head. “Thank you Dr. Gadwall. Now that all the dates are finalized, is there anything else we need to do this appointment?”

“There is only one last thing I need to talk to you about, and then we should be good until Monday when you come in for your first round of radiation treatment." Dr. Gadwall set down his clipboard and turn so he was fully facing Donald. "I know most patients don’t like thinking about the worst, but it is important to be prepared. Donald, do you have a will already?”

Out of everything Dewey expected to ask, for some reason that was one of them.

“Yes, but I haven’t updated it since leaving the Navy.”

And for all the responses for Donald to give, Dewey should have expected that. Dewey always forgot his uncle served in the navy, like sure he knew, but it was one of those detail that kinda felt off and so he just forgets about it often.

“Well, Donald I would like you to update it. Having everything set in order often helps patients' minds feel more at ease through treatment and helps the family as well if the worse does happen.”

“But that is not going to happen.” Dewey felt childish after the words left his mouth but he didn’t care. He faced the impossible with his family every day. Just because the medical world says it is unlikely that Donald will live a long life doesn’t mean it won't happen. Dewey stared down the doctor, remembering why he thought he would hate him. But as Dr. Gadwell met his eyes, Dewey's resolve wavered. He saw the eyes of a man who has fought for strangers' lives, who has given everything to make sure people don’t lose their family. He was looking into the eyes of a man who personally knew death, and had to break news to lovers, children, and parents, that their loved one has moved on. Dewey couldn’t handle glaring at those eyes any longer, he looked down, but Dr. Gadwalls voice calmed his mind from pondering into the possibility of losing his uncle.

“Writing a will doesn’t mean giving up, sometimes it can give you greater strength to press forward.”

This man didn’t wasn’t Donald to die, but he knew better than most that life was unfair and death could take whatever it gripped its hand on. However, this was also a man who has unwrapped Death's hands and saved people every day. This was a man who was joining the duck family to stop Death from approaching any closer.

Dewey nodded and sunk into his chair. Maybe he shouldn’t have come to the appointment, it was making him feel things he didn't want to feel. Donald looked down and his blue nephew. Dewey looked the way Donald felt. Donald did not want to begin thinking about writing a will. They wrapped up the appointment and walked out of the building. Launchpad was waiting, well kind of waiting. He was talking to a stranger who was wearing some Darkwing merch. Over the past few years, Darkwing's name has become more known and merch was more readily available. There were defiantly more fans, but this citizen looked was not prepared for the level of fan that is Launchpad, and looked like he regretted leaving his house. Luckily for him, Launchpad said goodbye the moment Dewey and Donald were ready to leave.

“How did it go?”

“He wants me to write a will,” Donald grumbled.

“Oh, life one of those fancy letters in the movies that they hide away and people have to go on a crazy search to find it so they can become rich?” Launchpad said.

“More like one of those you write when you think your gonna die.” Dewey huffed out.

A flash of concern flashed over Launchpad's face before it returned to normal. “Well, as they say, where there is a will there is a way. So I am sure if you get one of those wills you will find a way to make sure that what Dewey said doesn’t happen”

Sighing and not wanting the conversation to continue Donald ushered them out to the vehicle. “Come on guys, the day is still early and Dewey needs to make it back for the last half of school”

“Boo, I already missed half the day, can't I miss the rest of it too,” Dewey complained as he climbed into the limo.

“Not on my watch kiddo, besides you said that they are gonna announce what the school play for this year is going to be today. Don’t you want to be there to have your name at the top of the list for auditions?” Donald said and he closed the door and the vehicle started towards Duckburg High.

“Oh yeah! I heard it was between Marry Poppins and Peter and the Starcatcher. I really hope it's not Mary Poppins. Sure it’s a fun show, but there are no good roles. But Peter and the Starcatcher is filled with amazing roles. Don’t you think I would make an awesome Peter Pan! I do!”

“You would be amazing that’s for sure. You will have to tell me what they decided after school, I can help you rehearse lines for your auditions if you want to.”

Dewey beamed at his uncle. “That would be great! So, what are your plans for the day?”

“I actually have a late lunch with Daisy, I should be home by the time you're done will school though.”

Smirking Dewey glanced at Launchpad and then back at his uncle. For a second Dewey debated not doing what he was planning, but then again it is a nephew's job to bug his uncle about his love life, and what better way is there than singing. 

“Donald and Daisy sitting in a tree..” As Dewey sang Donald's face grew redder and redder, especially when Launchpad joined in. They reached the school just as the song finished.

“Bye Uncle Donald have fun on your date,” Dewey said, dragging out the last word.

Face palming Donald said goodbye to Dewey and watched him walk into the high school. Donald could barely believe how fast the boys have grown. It didn’t feel like that long ago he was dropping them off for kindergarten. Life had changed so much, mostly good changes. Della coming back was one of the best surprises in his life. Those ten years without her felt like he was trying to forge through life pushing a cart with only four wheels. He never thought he would get that cart fixed. But there she is, back in his life helping raise her kids. She got to be the mom she always wanted to be. Donald never stopped being the boy's parent, and Della never made him feel like he needed to. After moving into the mansion much of Donald's parenting style shifted anyways. Having Della there just made sense. 

When it was just Donald and the triplets in the houseboat the boys were doing okay. Donald tried to provide the best life he could. But there was only so much you can do being a single parent and having to work multiple jobs. He remembers nights where he dreamed of giving them the whole world to have. However, there was always the sting of knowing what too much ambition got you. The boys lost their mother because she was too big of a dreamer. Donald was determined that they wouldn’t lose him the same way. And so he set realistic goals like getting them a good education, making sure they knew they were loved, and making sure they were healthy. But he saw so much of Della in the kids. 

He saw there yearning for adventure and exploration. He knew that they each were born with the same ambition that Della had. The internal desire to go after what they wanted and take it. But that scared him. Losing his sister made all adventures have a bad taste in his mouth. And so he sheltered the boys and tried to keep them from that part of themselves.

It wasn’t until that day when they were standing on the deck with Uncle Scrooge looking at the kids that he realized they didn’t just want adventure, they needed it. They needed the time to go out and explore life to truly embrace who they are. It was in their blood after all. In his heart, Donald knew that he would be letting the boys adventure with Scrooge more, but he never expected the universe to say “a few adventures is not enough,” blow up his houseboat and have him move in with Uncle Scrooge. Looking back Donald can't disagree with the universe. Because he moved he was able to get a bonus kid in webby. And his life went from worrying about his boys to worrying about his kids. 

And now his kids are barely kids anymore. They are 16 and in high school. These past five years of having the whole family together has been a miracle. He no longer dreams of providing them the world, they already have it. 

And then the doctor wants him to write a will.

The doctor wants him to plan a future where the boys have to lose a loved one. Donald knows the pain of losing a parent, he and Della had to learn that at a young age. He does not want the kids to know that pain. They already knew what it was like growing up without a mother, wasn’t that enough.

Frustration boiled up and Donald released it by punching the roof of the limo, which might have left a small dent.

“Don’t work Mr. Dee, I will get you to your date on time. If you want I even know a short cut,” Launchpad said as he swerved through the lunchtime traffic.

“That’s not the problem launchpad, I was just got thinking too much and it frustrated me.”

“Oh, I get that. I often get frustrated when I have to think as well. I normally try to avoid thinking too much, but when I can't I find it helpful if I talk while I think. Do you want to talk about it”

“Thanks, Launchpad, but I think I'm okay.” Donald slouched back in his chair.

“That’s probably for the best because if you said yes I would have had to drive around the block again, because we are already here, and even though I wouldn’t mind that, I think Ms. Daisy would.”

Just at the mention of his girlfriend's name Donald's spirits lifted. He looked out the window and sure enough there she was looking gorgeous, like always. Donald quickly made himself more presentable, checking his hair in the window and straightening his shirt. Then he said good bye to Launchpad and hurried out towards Daisy. They decided to have lunch at a small café that had grown to be one of their favorite spots. It was across the street from her designing job so she would be able to meet there during her lunch break. She was already sitting at a table as Donald walked up. She smiled and waved at him.

Meeting Daisy was one of Donald's favorite things to ever happen to him. Not only was she the girl of his dreams, but she also loved the kids as much as he did. And she also had nieces that he adored. However, while Huey, Dewey, and Louie tended to act on best behavior for Daisy. It felt like April, May, and June acted on worst behavior for him. They seemed to always be causing him trouble and trying to sabotage his date. He would be frustrated with them of course, but he never got truly angry. Their trouble actually reminded him of the boys a lot. It also helped when he realized they were testing him to see if he was good enough for Daisy. Somehow he passed their tests, and the girls warmed up to him. As much as he liked the girls he was very thankful that they went to a different school as the boys. Donald was not sure if he could handle the two sets of triplets teaming up.

As Donald reached the table Daisy stood gave him a hug and a quick kiss and then they sat and started to chat. At first, it was like most of their normal conversations. They talked about how her job is going, then talked about the kids, and then about the rest of their families. They laughed and giggled about this and that throughout lunch. However, as their conversation dragged on and small talk topics were running out a sense of hesitance surrounded the couple. Daisy knew the moment that Donald stepped out of the limo that he had something bugging him. She knew already that he had a doctor's appointment this morning and she knew all about the cancer. She received a phone call from him late in the night a few weeks ago, telling her that they needed to talk and that it was important. That night they met at the docks, a place that often brought Donald peace. But that night was anything but.

Daisy rush to the dock as soon as she could, she had to get dressed as she was in bed already when he called. She didn’t bother with makeup, knowing time was more important than appearances in this instance. She had her hair up in a simple ponytail and was wearing just jeans and a sweater. She brought a spare blanket just in case.

She was glad she did because when she arrived she saw Donald hunched over with his legs dangling over the side of the dock. His eyes were puffy and his hands trembled slightly. He sadly smiled at her when she approached. She wrapped the blanket around him and then sat by his side. She had no idea what could have caused him to be in such a state. When she found out the reason all her confusion was replaced with an empathetic sorrow. She wrapped him tight in a hug, and he clung on to her like a lifeline. Neither of them got any sleep that night.

In the weeks following they have had many talks about the cancer, but they also planned dates like this one where it was just to relax and destress. Daisy didn’t want to bring up the topic, however, Donald was getting more and more anxious. She could tell that even though he wanted to ignore whatever issue had arisen, his mind wouldn’t let him.

“Donald, what's got you so worried? Did something happen at the doctors today?”

Somehow looking both relieved and terrified that she asked, Donald quietly stated, “The doctor asked me to write a will.”

“Oh.” Daisy placed her hand on top of Donald's and gave it a gentle squeeze. Donald met her eyes and she held his gaze. With a kind smile and a small tilt of her head, they had a silent conversation. His gaze allowed her to see the storm of anxiety, guilt, and frustration. Her eyes provided a lighthouse of sympathy, compassion, and support.

With voice raspier than it normally was Donald confided, “Last month when I thought about the future, I thought about us being together and creating our own family. I thought about the kids growing up and being worried about them moving out and starting college. I thought about getting to see Della being able to finally put her guilt about the moon behind her. I thought about how Uncle Scrooge is no longer someone I avoid but someone I can count on. The future was looking the brightest it has ever looked before. But now, I am not even sure if I will have a future. And…”

Donald's voice cracked and he broke hand contact to rub at his face. Daisy moved her chair next to his and wrapped an arm around him, unable to say anything because her throat was tight and her eyes were already stinging with tears.

Donald grabbed tight to the arm wrapped around him, and with breath racing unevenly he cried into Daisy’s shoulder, “And now I have to plan for my own death. I don’t want to. I wanted to propose to you. The kids are almost done high school. I wanted to see what colleges they go to if they decide to go. I wanted to go sailing again. I don’t want to think about what should happen if I die, I don’t want to write it down. I don’t want it to be real.”

Donald took a deep breath in and then slowly let it out. He sunk into Daisy’s embrace and he said, “But it is real.”

Daisy tightened her arms around the man that she spent the last few years falling in love with. She holds onto him as he cries joining him with tears of her own. She buries her face into the hair of the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She has spent countless nights dreaming about walking down the aisle and devoting each other's life to one another. As the clock ticks, the tears fall slower and slower. The city still moves around them and reminds them that even if their life seems to have pause the world has not.

Daisy lifts Donalds face so she can look him in the eyes as she says “No matter what the future hold and how long it lasts, every day spent with you is a blessing. A few words on a piece of paper will not change fate. I can no control fate, I can't magically take this away, but I can be there for you. You are the most stubborn duck I know. I know you will fight this, and I will be with you every day. And whether we only have a few weeks left or if we have several decades left, I will be thankful for each day I get to spend with you because each day I am with you I fall even more in love with you.”

As daisy’s words wash over Donald the tension in his body releases, and his heart is filled with gratitude to the universe for letting him be able to be a part of this wonderful woman's life. The couple talks and comfort each other for a while longer until eventually daisy has to return to work and Donald has to return to his family. Even if the future is uncertain, at that moment there is complete certainty that those two love each other.

When Dewey was dropped off at school it was just after lunch, and so he didn’t see any of his family before his class. He counted that as a blessing because he was unsure how to answer any questions they would ask. How did the doctor's appointment go? Well, good because there is a surgeon and they have the whole treatment set up, but also bad because the doctor is having our uncle write a will. When Louie announced that pancreatic cancer only had a 9% survival rate Dewey kinda brushed that fact off. Statistics never really made anything feel more real to Dewey. But a doctor, a human who spends years studying how to make people better, telling his uncle to write a will. That really helped sink the idea into Dewey's mind that maybe he would be losing a family.

However, Dewey was not in a place where he could process that. In fact, he was in history class. Dewey though Uncle Scrooge's tales about the past were boring, but even that was better than Mr. Willow's lecture on the Romans defeating the Celts. It's not that the subject was boring, it was that the teacher was. Not only did Mr. Willow speak as slow as molasses, but he also was one of those no power points teachers. Dewey could not handle just sitting and watching someone talk, he needed involvement in the lesson. Even then it really depended on if he was interested in the topic. 

So eventually throughout the class he stopped paying attention and instead was tapped his foot as he played an endless running game on his phone under the desk. After half an eternity the bell finally rang and he was able to leave that dreaded classroom. Luckily he only had two classes in the afternoon, and the other one was drama so it was bound to be entertaining.

While he was walking to the theater room he caught sight of a familiar green hoodie and red hat. Stopping mid hallway to change directions Dewey headed towards his brothers.

“Heyo, what are you two up to?” Dewey greeted as he playfully nudged his brothers.

Shrugging Louie said, “Not much, just chatting I guess.”

Dewey looked at his brothers, they both looked a little on edge, but for the past two weeks, everyone in their family did. They had a lot more chats during school just to make sure everyone was okay.

Fiddling his fingers Huey asked, “Did the appointment go well?”

Srucnching his face Dewey responded, “Ehhh, yeah. But like it also was really, ugh.” Dewey sighed and made eye contact with his brothers who looked very concerned at this point, “Dr. Gadwall wants Uncle Donald to write a will.”

“Oof.” Louie said, “How did that go?”

“I don’t know.” Dewey waved his hands. “I kinda freaked out but only a little. I don’t think Uncle Donald liked the idea either but he didn’t say anything.”

“That’s fair.” Louie nodded.

“Yeah, but it makes sense why the doctor would want Donald to write it,” Huey added, at this point he was shaking his hand and not making eye contact. “Cause if Donald puts it off till he is really, really ill then it may not get done, and then it might discourage him more. Doing it sooner makes it less stressful later down the road, so he has more energy to focus on healing.”

Dewey thought about that for a second, “Okay. I can kinda understand that.”

Huey looked Dewey in the eyes, “Are you doing okay?”

Sometimes Dewey really disliked how over caring his brother was. At the same time, he was really thankful for it because there were too many thoughts in his head.

“I'm doing okay. Not good, but okay. I kinda just hate having to think about losing Uncle Donald."

Louie's eyes got a little wet as he nodded. Huey grabbed his brother by the arms and pulled them in for a hug. Annoyingly it was only a quick one because the bell for the next class rang. 

But before they left Huey said, “We still Uncle Donald right now and we still have each other.”They each said their goodbyes, wiped their eyes, and headed to class.

Dewey's mind was playing Huey's words over and over again through out drama class.

'We still have Uncle Donald for now.' 

It played in his head as the teacher announced that the play for this year would be Peter and the Starcatcher.

'We still have him for now.'

It played as he talked with his friends about the roles he would audition for. 

'We have him for now.'

It played through his head throughout the lesson, during improve exercises, through the end of the school bell, and while he was walking up to the auditions sign up sheet.

'For Now.'

Dewey didn’t sign up for auditions.

It was after dinner when Donald was in his houseboat looking sorting through his safe full of all the legal documents and was getting sentimental over the boys' birth certificates. He was so happy when they all were hatched healthy, even though Louie gave him a heart attack when he took forever to hatch. Next to the certificates, there was a small note that had three (not) names written it; Jet, Turbo, and Rebel. As much as he loved his sister, he couldn’t let the boys grow up with those names. At the bottom of the safe was his old documents from the navy, and with it a copy of his will. 

When he joined the navy he made his will in a rush. He was still at the age where he thought he was young and invincible. He filed it out the quickest way possible which was just leaving everything to his sister. He could probably do the same thing now, just leave the mess of cleaning up after the loss of a sibling to her. Make her deal with absolutely everything having to try and figure out how to deal with grief and financing a family at the same time. Like he had to.

No. He didn’t want to do that. He had forgiven his sister years before she ever came back. She was one of the few reasons he was pushing himself to update his will. He knew the pain of losing a twin. If he did die, he wanted Della to be able to heal and move on without having to think about the gritting fact of life that rear their ugly head with someone dies. How it reminders you that you have to keep living in this world where there is money, and problem, and just trying to survive day-to-day. Dealing with painful reminders that you are still living but they are not. 

A knock at the door startled him out of his thoughts. Donald called out telling whoever was there to come it. In the doorway was a duck dressed in blue and Donald smiled seeing Dewey. Donald was planning to find him later tonight because Dewey was acting weird when he got home from school. Donald was glad Dewey came to find him on his own. Donald greeted his nephew and motioned to have Dewey sit on the bench with him. The young duck did so but remained oddly quiet.

“How was school?” Donald asked, thinking it was best to start with small talk and work up to whatever was bugging Dewey, “Did you sign up for auditions?”

“No.”

Or Donald would directly hit the nail on the head. Wonderful. The moment he asked the question Dewey stiffened. Even though the kid loved to act, he was terrible at hiding his emotions.

“Why not? Didn’t you say they choose the play you wanted?”

“Yeah, they did, but I thought this just isn’t the year for plays.”

Oh no. Donald was being to see where this conversation was heading.

“Or soccer.”

Yup, Donald's suspicion was right and he did not like it.

“I think I'll just keep my evenings clear”

“Dewford Dingus Duck, you are not going to quit everything you love to do just because I got cancer.”

Dewey stood and faced Donald head-on. “Getting cancer isn’t a just because thing. Getting cancer is a life or death thing. Getting cancer is a treasure the time you have because, sure, we have our uncle with us for now, but what if it is only for now. I can always play soccer, or I can always join a play. But what if I don’t always have you!”

Donald pulled Dewey back down so they were sitting side by side. “That risk has always been there. You never know when your loved ones will leave. Cancer is just one way that people can die. Don’t put off your life worrying about the worst that will happen, treasure your life because you have it.”

“But Uncle Donald, how can I treasure my life when I am worried that the person who raised me is going to die? How can I keep going when it all could disappear so quickly?”

“You can do it because you are not alone. You have your brothers and you have your family, Webby, Uncle Scrooge, your mom. And you have dear friends all over that will support you. You can do it because it could all disappear so quickly. Do you really think spending all your time here would make you happy? Do you think stopping yourself from having fun will help anyone?”

“It would mean I spend more time with you.”

“You can still spend plenty of time with me and still play soccer and join the school play. In fact, a lot of the time we spend together is when I help you rehearse lines, or when I come to your games.”

Dewey stared at the table for a while processing his uncle's words. He slowly was understanding his what his uncle was saying, but he wasn’t fully buying it yet.

“But what if you get too sick to leave the house, what about when you are in surgery and have to stay in the hospital? Shouldn’t I spend that time with you instead of somewhere else?”

“Well, then you can always bring a recording of it and watch it with me. Also, I am not convinced you would last spending all your time stuck in a room with me. It would drive you crazy being copped up, and will get you all stressed out.”

“That’s fair.” Dewey took a breath, it felt like his brain was finally starting to slow down and think.

“These next few months you will be dealing with a lot of stress already. Maybe if you were Louie I would approve of not doing any extracurricular activities. But that’s because he destresses by having alone time. Do you know what you do to destress?”

“Umm….”

“You do the things you love to do, including acting and sports.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Dewey said sheepishly.

“Don't you think it would be smart to stay in the things that keep you mentally healthy?”

Dewey Shrugged. He really wasn’t thinking about ways he would need to cope.

“Exactly. Now if you find that the play and soccer turn out to be too much and becomes something stressful, then we can talk about you quitting.”

“Okay,” Dewey nods. “That is actually a better plan.” Dewey sighs and leans on his uncle's shoulder. “How can you think so rationally throughout this all? I feel like I would be a huge mess.”

“Oh I am a huge mess, but I have great friends and family who support me through it. And I have wonderful kids that share their life with me.

At that moment Dewey hugged Donald tightly. “You’ve convinced me, I will do the audition. But you have to help me practice. And you have to watch all my soccer games too, even if it's only a recording on my phone.”

“That’s a deal.” 

While Donald was hugging his nephew he realized that planning for his death isn’t just about what he wants, but it is also about making it easier for his family. Maybe a plan for his death meant he could plan a way to help out his family even if he wasn’t there. 

As Dewey spent the evening chatting with his uncle he realized that maybe having his uncle just for now could mean doing his best to bring joy to his uncle's life. Maybe it meant providing an unchanging part to Uncle Donald's life even if everything else was shifting around. Maybe Dewey could be someone who could put a smile on his uncle's face by telling him about teenage school drama and the problems of a high schooler instead of thinking about the problems of cancer. 

That night Dewey and Donald went to sleep with a little more hope for the near future. By the next day, there was a fully written will on the table and the name Dewey Duck written in neon blue ink on the auditions sign up sheet for Duckburg High's annual school play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading the second chapter. Also thank you for all the amazing feedback on the last chapter, it really brightened my week! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I ended up writing it all in one sitting so if it doesn't make sense that is why. 
> 
> Again, thank you so much for the comments. I can't believe so many of you are also fans of the Donald duck angst. I know this chapter only focused on two characters, but my plan is to shift around between the character each chapter. So hopefully you will get to see your favorite characters at some point.
> 
> If you have any feedback I would love to hear it. Every comment makes my day.
> 
> Have fun with your fanfic reading and thanks for stopping by!
> 
> (Also any of the original characters I name, like Dr. Gadwall, so far just have names associated with the type of bird they are.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading all the way to the end! I have had this fic bouncing around my head for a while now, even back before Della was a major character. I just haven't written it because I am not a great writer. However I decided practice is the only way to improve so here I am writing a fic. I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you have any feedback I would love to hear it. Every comment makes my day.
> 
> Have fun with your fanfic reading and thanks for stopping by!


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